


Thrill Seeker

by TwilightRealmWolf



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-03
Updated: 2013-12-03
Packaged: 2018-01-03 08:19:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1068186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightRealmWolf/pseuds/TwilightRealmWolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Gavin Free was younger, childhood was not easy on him. Having lost all of his family, some by mystery and others by murder, he wasn't the most scar-free man. Only the amusement parks could be to blame, all connected to the deaths of his family members. When Gavin's good friend Ray suggests a trip to the local Six Flags, a theme park, Gavin reluctantly agrees, his friend telling him that everything will be okay. When there's an incident, Gavin believes that they must all be connected somehow. This turn of events sparks Gavin's investigator side, and he begins to explore what really happened, both now and many years ago upon the death of his dad. Will Gavin discover a mindless anonymous killer, or will he find that not everyone is who they seem to be?</p><p>{DISCONTINUED}</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thrill Seeker

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Okay, I know Ray can't drive, but for the sake of the work he can now.  
> 2\. The first part of many!

Chapter One: A Cursed Wish of the Sixth Day

All that could be heard was the shrill scream. The noise seemed to travel through the ears and down the spine, chilling every nerve to ice. Though, this wasn’t a bad thing.  
“We finally get to go?!” Gavin’s voice shrieked with excitement, his father not knowing how it was humanly possible to get a voice to that frequency. All he could do was respond with a mere chuckle and a bright smile.  
“Yes, Gavin. Go find your shoes and bring them to me, okay?”  
Gavin nodded excitedly and scurried up the stairs, only managing to trip up them 4 times today. He could be so clumsy sometimes.  
As he waited for Gavin, his father could only stand at the base of the stairs and think. He knows that Gavin loved theme parks, and he’d only been once before...What a shame that the last time he’d set foot in one, that would be the last time he’d be there with his whole family.  
As the thoughts continued on, Gavin’s father’s chest began to tighten and radiate with pain. He wanted them to stop, but he knew the thoughts wouldn’t stop coming.  
He remembers it with such detail, that every time he thinks it plays back like a movie scene. The sounds of happiness from his family, the overwhelming feeling of peace...Everything felt so right. Here he was, with his family. His beautiful wife Katarina and his 4 and a half year old son. He remembers vividly the way his wife smiled, and they way Gavin laughed with such a pure joy that it could cure anyone….  
If only it could have stopped tragedy.  
If only it could have stopped the terror, the absolute horror.  
Maybe it could have stopped the accident-  
His thoughts evaporated into dust as Gavin spoke.  
“Daddy? Are we going now?”  
His father looked down, smiling as he stared into his son’s innocent eyes. Someday he would understand what happened not even a year and a half ago.  
“Yes, we can go.”  
The pain of remembrance was fresh in the air as they walked out.  
……………………….  
The ride there was simple. Though, Gavin’s father took extra caution when it came to driving. He seemed...different today, and Gavin couldn’t figure out why.  
Though, he was only focused on one thing-  
It was his birthday today! He couldn’t help but smile as he thought of it. 6 was a way bigger number than 5, and he felt it. He felt like he could do anything, he was stronger than any 5 year olds.  
As they parked the car, Gavin couldn’t contain his excitement.  
Though, something other than happiness loomed over them.  
……………………………  
The day went off better than it had ever been. Gavin being the happiest his father had seen him in so long, and that made the wait worth it.  
Though the trip was hard, and it was hard to muster up the ability to stay, it was always worth the extra effort to see his son happy.  
That meant everything to him.  
…………………………………….  
As the day came to a close, Gavin sat staring at his birthday cupcake his dad had given him. After the happy birthdays had been sung, he was left, pondering a wish good enough for his 6th birthday. He wanted it to be something that meant something...something other than wishing for the little simple things, like a new toy.  
“I want her to come back…”  
He was so deep in thought Gavin didn’t even know what he’d said.  
Not until he saw his dad’s face.  
Gavin’s hands flew up to his face in terror, as he saw tears fall from his dad’s face. He didn’t want his dad to cry, he didn’t mean to make him sad. Now he felt terrible about it.  
With hands still covering his mouth, Gavin tried to speak.  
“I’m sorry daddy! I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’M SORRY!”  
His voice got progressively louder as choked out sobs racked his body, making his breathing uneven along with it.  
Gavin continued to cry, as thoughts ran through his head at a high pace.  
He suddenly felt his dad’s arms around him, and then he knew it’d be okay.  
His parents always helped him through these sorts of things…  
That’s why Gavin was glad he still had one.  
The anger and depression felt heavy laying upon their shoulders.  
…………………………………….  
The day was over…  
Gavin’s wish never came true.  
Why?  
Didn’t all wishes come true on you birthday?  
As Gavin and his dad began to walk out of the amusement park, the darkness of the nighttime enveloping them in the dark, Gavin wanted to ask. He wanted to ask his dad why he’d lied to him, telling him whatever he wished for would always come true… but he couldn’t bring himself to ask. He didn’t want to make his dad sad again.  
“Hey...Gavin?”  
Gavin glanced up at his dad, who has stopped walking and now looked down to Gavin.  
Gavin took a moment to take in his surroundings, noting that they were stood next to the exit. All that surrounded them was the little shops around and a creative design made out of bushes and flowers.  
“Yes, daddy?”  
He watched with extreme interest as his dad pulled out a small book from his backpack.  
“Gavin, I want you to have this. This was your mothers...I think you should have it. I know you won’t understand what’s in here, but its important to me that you have it. Please, keep it somewhere safe. I lov-”  
BANG!  
His sentence was cut off by a sound that hurt Gavin's ears. What was going on?  
"D...daddy?" Gavin choked out, as his father's eyes went wide and he fell to the floor, a hand on his stomach.  
Next thing Gavin knew, the deep red of blood began to seep through his dad's fingertips.  
Before another word left Gavin's mouth, he was being dragged from behind, being dragged away from his father, a strangers hands dragging him back with a great force. Gavin tried with all his might to resist, he kicked, and he cried out as much as he could muster, only incoherent blubbering noises coming out of his mouth. He wanted to scream out to his daddy, he wanted to more than anything. He didn’t want to be left all alone, he couldn’t do it again. Oh please, not again.  
This was the exact opposite of his wish.  
All Gavin could hear was the screaming of people as they crowded around where his dad was laying., murmurs of shock and terror simultaneously coming out of their mouths.  
He couldn't even manage to scream a mere "daddy" before he was taken away.  
...........................................  
Gavin's head shot up abruptly as he was once again yanked from the demons of his mind. Yet another night of nightmares. They were beginning to become more constant than before, and Gavin didn't quite understand why. They were now constant, haunting him day and night. Even though he only managed to get around an hour to an hour and a half of sleep a night, that didn't stop them. Somehow, they still managed to go into his mind to torture him, though the amount of time they had was so short and limited.  
For most people, it takes a deep rest, such as a good nights sleep for nightmares to occur at their worst, but that wasn't the case for Gavin. They get to him when he tries to take the smallest of naps, and even when he tries to simply rest his eyes in between editing in the Achievement Hunter office.  
After a few days, his close friends and his coworkers began to take note of the changes in Gavin. Day after day they would ask what was really going on, and everyday Gavin gave the same responses. Whenever they asked, he would always tell them that it was the stress of whether or not he could get the new let’s play out on time or not. At first, he thought it was true, though these past few days, he began to know more and more that was far from being true. Geoff began to be more and more concerned, and decided to lighten Gavin's workload for the next few weeks to see if he could get back to normal. Gavin huffed on about how Geoff shouldn't take away his work, but all that Geoff would say was that he cared too much to see Gavin suffer.  
Sure, Geoff really did care about Gavin. He was like a father to him, and had been ever since they first started working together back when Gavin payed only mere visits down to Texas from England. Though, Gavin couldn't help but think that Geoff was more concerned with getting the content out rather than Gavin's well-being. He always shrugged off the thought, never wanting to think too deep into it.  
After lying in bed thinking to himself, trying to regain sanity from the nightmares, Gavin managed to calm down a fair amount. Going through the routine he always did, he finally brought himself to sit up. He took a quick glance at the clock next to his bed. 2:36 AM. Gavin sighed to himself as he stared at the glowing red numbers, seeming to give the room around him a red tint of color. After much mental motivation, Gavin convinced himself to stand up from the bed and drag his feet over the the shower across the hall. He pulled the bedroom door slowly, being careful not to create too much noise, given the ungodly hour of the morning. Geoff had scolded him before that just because he couldn't sleep didn't mean that the others shouldn't be able to.  
A faint snap of the light switch seemed to echo around the bathroom as Gavin shut the white painted wooden door behind him. As he turned to face away from the door, the light seemed to blind him momentarily, stunning him for a few seconds before he trudged over to the shower. As the water began to pour out of the shower head, Gavin stripped his boxers from his body and stepped in, feeling the cold shock of the bathtub as his feet stepped down.  
Thoughts whirred around in Gavin's mind, seeming to go at a million miles per hour. Gavin sighed deeply as he placed his hands on either side of the shower on the wall in front of him, the feeling of the steaming hot water cascading down his back soothing every muscle in his body slowly. He enjoyed the feeling of relief, though he knew it would only be temporary. He still enjoyed it nonetheless.  
After what seemed to only have been a mere 30 seconds, Gavin shut off the shower with an audible squeak of the handle. He remained stood there after the shower stopped, feeling as the remaining water in the tub rushed towards and down the drain. After a few seconds of thinking, he pulled the curtain back lightly, not having the energy pull it back fully.  
Stepping out of the tub and onto the bathmat was a pleasant change of feeling. Gavin curled his toes in the shaggy bathmat and grabbed his towel that was hanging messily on the rack. He mentally commented on the towels dark green color as he wiped the water droplets from his face, and then the rest of his body.  
He slid his clothes for the day on with ease, his mind a blur in a flurry blizzard of thoughts.  
The thoughts varied from pointless little what-if thoughts about things that even Gavin felt stupid thinking about, but he was still genuinely curious if legs knew they were legs or not. What would happen if they didn't know they were legs? Gavin was sure he always asked the hard-hitting questions.  
The other thoughts were vivid memories, especially those that were involved in the nightmare. Though, these thoughts never went away, always haunting him. Maybe he should be used to it by now...but he just wasn't. It didn't work that way.  
As he closed the door behind himself, making sure that the sound was muffled, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of the faint oof from Gavin and the bed squeaking beneath the newly introduced weight placed atop of it. Another series of squeaks could be heard as Gavin attempted to change positions. He was slightly worried about the noise level, for Geoff’s sake, and for Gavins safety if he did in fact bother Geoff.  
At a second thought, Gavin breathed out a breath he didn't know he was holding and sighed with relief.  
Geoffs probably at work, he might've left hours ago.  
Gavin let out another sigh as he reached down, hitting the on buttons for both his Xbox and his tv he kept on his room.  
With Geoff gone, I can play for a little while.  
He navigated the familiar Xbox home screen and selected Minecraft from his minimal games collection and waited as the loading screen did its thing.  
After a few moments of impatiently waiting, he started up his and Geoffs world, which had been dubbed Achievement City by Gavin and the Ramseys. He flew with speed to one of the the very rare unbuilt areas and began mindlessly building.  
He wondered if Geoff ever hated his job. By the way he talked about it, it sure did seem like it sometimes. Geoff was the head crime scene investigator at the Austin Police Department, and he had some partner Gavin always heard about but never had met before. He'd never even seen a picture of the man.  
Gavin knew Geoff was a busy man. Technically, the man worked two jobs. ‘Achievement Hunter’ was the small internet thing he, Gavin, Ray, and Michael started together one day, doing whatever they pleased whenever Geoff had time off from APD, or whenever the three of the lads decided to record something for fun. Geoff had sometimes recommended bringing in his partner to do some let’s plays with the four of them, and Gavin always reluctantly agreed, not quite knowing what to expect from the man Gavin had never met. Though, as the time set to have the man over approached, suddenly Gavin always had something that required his immediate attention, so Gavin and the Lads couldn’t stay for the fun.  
Gavin wasn’t too fond of being around someone he’d never even met.  
Everyone else seemed to know Geoff’s partner, though. At least Gavin had a name....but its always nice to put a name to a face. The name was Jack, with a last name that Gavin had trouble remembering, let alone pronouncing. It was something with a P...Pancake? No, that was just silly. Something along the lines of Panillo? No, thats ridiculous. Gavin chuckled to himself as he thought of that. Was it potato? Yeah, closed enough. Jack Potato.  
Geoff and his partner Jack were pretty well known around the area. They even attended scenes outside of the APD areas, and that really says something. From how Geoff always talked, no one was allowed to leave their area. If they happened to get assigned somewhere else, the people already in that area sometimes weren't so nice to the newcomer.  
Gavin remembered the time when Geoff and Jack had been assigned outside APD for first time. He remembered Geoff saying that everyone didn't want them there and that they were unwelcome, and that they could all beat him to the point of going back to his own force. At that, Geoff turned and smiled at them, as Jack walked up, shadowing Geoff in his bigger build. Geoff watched with amusement as their faces turned to horror. Jack was bigger than they'd thought...a lot bigger. With that, no one ever screwed with Geoff Ramsey or his partner again. Unless they were bloody mental, that is.  
Gavin quickly shut out that memory, which comes across his mind amusing at first, but slowly becomes terrifying and brings the unwelcome thoughts flooding back into his mind. He feels a shudder rack his body, as if a cool breeze had just come rushing in, and that it and left a stinging and burning sensation on his skin. Gavin tried to fend off the thoughts, but they all came flooding back, more powerful than ever. Suddenly his whole body was shaking, and his ears began to ring. Gavin's hands flew up to cover his ears, and he sent the controller flying, eventually clattering to the floor near the wall.  
It was overpowering, everything became too much. Gavin keeled over, knees touching his forehead. He couldn't hear anything else, his ears ringing deafeningly, head pounding, hands shaking, vision blurred by the blood rushing to his head at a thousand miles per hour. His jaw was aching from the force he was biting down with, grinding his bared teeth together. It was becoming too much. What was happening to him? Surely this hadn't happened before, if not for awhile now. Gavin wanted to cry, scream out for someone, get down on his knees and plead for relief.  
With only final thought, "Help me anyone, please, I'm begging you!", the surroundings became quiet, and everything still. Gavin collapsed with an audible thud, and consciousness faded from his mind.  
...........................................  
Usually, like in the movies, when people wake up after being unconscious for a number of hours, they wake up slowly, to a familiar face and a nice coo from them, or at least a question of "Are you alright?" Though, that wasn't how it worked for Gavin at that moment.  
As he slowly began to gather his bearings, refusing to open his eyes, ears tender from pain, he layed there, small and limp. He felt like he was bloody hungover, and that the tiniest sound would make his migraine pound even harder, his brain trying the limits it was contained in inside Gavin's skull. Ill just take it slowly, I've got time anyways, Gavin thought to himself, as he clenched his eyes in pain. Even his own thoughts seemed to hurt his head. Whatever had happened was really taking a toll on him.  
Gavin's pained expression softened into a much calmer one as the pounding in his head weakened, finally coming to an end. He still could feel it, but Gavin wasn't about to complain about that, because even this was better than what it had felt like before. He softly hoped over and over on repeat in his mind that it would stay this way. Maybe he could just stay here all day, Geoff was at work and Griffon and Millie probably went out, as they always do.  
He sighed with content as he let his body relax into the carpet beneath his body, relief coming over his muscles in waves. Maybe he would just stay here all day after all. He didn't have to move, and there was no loud noises in the room, from what he could tell. Or maybe he was just going deaf. He sincerely hoped not, he kinda needed those ears.  
With that one thought, a sound hit his eardrums as if a million birds were cawing simultaneously. BLOODY HELL! Gavin cried out internally, his ears and head protesting to both noises. Well, at least he knew he wasn't deaf. Oh, and that part about the birds? That was Gavin's phone and his favorite bird sound that he always made to annoy Geoff, much to Griffon and Millie's enjoyment, as much as his own. The sound proceeded to continue, the phone screaming at Gavin. He was about to bring himself to stand up and get the cawing phone, when the phone managed to vibrate itself off the bed, to the left of Gavin, with him staring straight into the ceiling. Gavin let out a very audible yelp as the phone slid off the bed, still going off, and hit him square in the nose.  
Gavin's hand shot up, straight to cradle his now burning nose, burning with the shooting pain it was sending through his face. Though, the phone irritated him much more, still going off. Maybe the person had called him back again? Gavin had no idea, but his muscles screamed at the movement of his arm to grasp the phone, then pressing the 'answer call' button and bringing it to his ear.  
What Gavin was immediately greeted with was not pleasant.  
Rather than a simple hello, or even a mere hey, Gavin's throbbing ears were greeted with the sound of Michael Jones screaming a string of cuss words at the very top of his lungs. If you knew Michael, you knew it was loud.  
"BLOODY HELL!" Gavin screamed into the phone, greeting whoever was on the other end of the line how Gavin had been so rudely greeted as well.  
"Oh, sorry man. Hang on a sec."  
Rays voice hit Gavin's ears, as did the sound of some incoherent mumbling and the closing and latching of a door.  
"Sorry about that, Michael came over last night and we've been playing Halo non stop. He's kinda mad at me now, because I won. You know, the usual."  
Gavin chuckled at that, knowing that really was the usual.  
"'S alright, Lad-" Gavin started, before a quite rude and abrupt interruption by Ray.  
"Woah, dude, you alright? You sound drunk as all hell." Ray stated, surprise mixed into his voice.  
Oh, you know, just blacked out and had a terrible night, and was rudely awakened by the sound of you calling me over and over. But I'm fine, as always.  
If only Gavin had the balls to say that.  
"Nah, I haven't drank in awhile, Geoff's been really busy with work lately. Just feeling pretty crummy this morning, ya know?"  
"Yeah, I get that. So, I was calling to ask you if you wanna hang out today. I had this really cool idea and I thought we should do it, cuz I mean like, YOLO right?" Ray laughed after that, as he always did whenever he said stuff like that.  
"Ah, Ray, what do you have planned thats 420 related now, you silly sausage?" Gavin chuckled, knowing that he might not be as wrong as it may seem.  
"Oh man, as much as I'd love to, because everyone knows I love to smoke dat hurb, I didn't have anything planned today. I was thinking we could go down to the Six Flags in San Antonio. Its supposed to be really rainy today, so not a lot of people will be there."  
Gavin's stomach fell with the force of a ton of bricks. He hadn't been to an amusement park ever since...ever since...ever since it happened.  
"I dunno Ray..." Gavin's voice trailed off uncertainly. He knew Ray knew about what had happened in the past, and he never really brought it up. He'd known ever since Gavin had been nearly hospitalized from the one time the flashbacks became vivid while they were playing Halo at his apartment one night. It was that night when Ray began to know anything and everything about Gavin Free.  
"Come on Gavin, it'll be alright. I'll be there with you the whole time. Michael won't go with because...well, he has his own reasons..."  
Rays voice trailed off, Gavin gathering that there was more to the story than that, and that it wasn't exactly a good one, but he could also tell that Ray wasn't about to spill the beans to Gavin right now.  
"...but we can still go," Ray continued, talking normally again and picking up his sentence from where he'd left off before. "Hell, we can even leave before it gets dark if you want. We haven't just had a Gavino and Ray day in awhile, I think it'll be fun!"  
Gavin knew Ray has been wanting to do this for awhile, he'd heard him and Michael talking about it awhile ago when they were on the phone. He really did seem excited about it, and he was right, he and Ray hadn't hung out just them in forever, he was beginning to forget what it was like. Maybe Gavin could....just once...possibly...  
Plus Ray really was trying.  
"Screw it, it has been awhile since we hung out just us. Let's do it Ray. What time are you picking me up?" Gavin asked, a nervous feeling in his stomach. Though, he knew he really was excited to go with Ray.  
"Hell yes! Uhh, how does 9 o'clock sound? Does that give you enough time?"  
Gavin was confused for a bit, he could swear it was later than that. Gavin glanced sideways slightly, seeing the bright red familiar numbers on his nightstand. His neck protested, and Gavin let out a hiss, but saw as the numbers read 8:50.  
"Yeah, that works. You just leaving Mi-cool behind?"  
Ray laughed, as he always did whenever Gavin said Michael's name.  
"Yeah," Ray paused between laughs to catch breaths. "I'm leaving him here for a bit. I'm on my way now, Gavino. See ya in a bit!"  
Without a second chance to protest, Gavin was left alone as the other end of the line went dead. Gavin wanted to spend a few more minutes laying on the floor of his bedroom, complaining to himself about all his problems, but he realized he couldn't, knowing that Ray was only 10 minutes away.  
Ray had always lived generally close to Gavin, both living in downtown Austin. It wasn't that hard to find your way around the city, if you've lived here long enough.  
Every muscle in Gavin's body cried out in protest as he brought himself to sit upright. He knew he would probably feel it later, from straining them by moving so quickly, but Gavin desperately needed to get up. He mentally braced himself as he placed both hands on the edge of the bed and pushed upwards with his legs. With that, Gavin was standing, grabbing his phone and shoving it into his shorts pocket and trudging over to his shoes. He slid them on with minor effort, but was relieved that it caused less stress on his body than he'd anticipated.  
He was about to turn down the hall to go back to the bathroom, suddenly not feeling so well, when Gavin heard knocking on his door. Well, more like pounding. Gavin trudged over to the door, answering with a miniscule scowl on his face, but that vanished as he saw Ray standing there, keys in hand, with the biggest smile on his face.  
"Hey there, Gavino! Ready to go, lad?" Ray said, quite enthusiastically, extreme emphasis on the 'hey', considering it was drawn out.  
"Hell yeah, this is going to be tippy to-p." Gavin said, his voice shaking and breaking at the end of his sentence.  
Ray's enthusiastic and smiling face became painted over with concern momentarily, but went back to smiling instantly. He knew something was wrong, but he didn't want to pressure Gavin for information. He knew that Gavin was taking a big leap for Ray by doing this, and Ray knew it was way out of his comfort zone. Ever since Gavin’s incident 18 years ago, even the smallest mention of anything amusement park related scared Gavin immensely. Ray was just grateful that Gavin was even doing this in the first place.  
“Alright then, lets go!” Ray said, turning on his heel and giving a slight bounce of excitement as he strode towards his still running car. As he opened the car door, he heard the closing and locking of the Ramsey’s front door, and Gavin stood outside of it, with a look of anxiety written upon his face. At least he didn’t lock himself inside. Ray thought to himself, still keeping the smile on his face. As Gavin began walking, he looked at Ray, who was stood outside his car, and returned the smile. He hopped over less than gracefully and slid into the passenger seat, banging his head on the top of the door as he did so. Ray couldn’t help but laugh at him, as Gavin frowned and rubbed his forehead in comfort.  
“Your an idiot, Gavino.” Ray stated, still laughing as he pulled out of the Ramsey’s driveway, headed for the freeway, San Antonio bound.  
Gavin sighed unevenly, his breath shaking, as he closed his eyes and hoped that the feeling of terror and anxiety would begin to lighten the weight laid upon Gavin’s shoulders.  
...........................................  
"So then, I told Michael that there was no way in hell he could beat me in a Call of Duty match, especially online. He told me no then proceeded to take my disk and throw out the window of my apartment. Little did he know it was his disk for Red Dead, hah! I still don't think he knows. He's probably going to rage quit my face, or throw me out the window. I mean like YOLO right?" Ray said, deep into telling his story.  
Gavin tried to laugh, but all that came out was a faint “Mhmm”  
As Ray continued to speak, Gavin glanced out the passenger side window quickly. San Marcos, he thought to himself, we're getting closer.  
"Hey, man, you doing okay? We seriously don't have to do this if you're not cool with it. I can turn around right now." Ray said, worry-coated words spilling out apologetically as he made a gesture with his hand out the windshield to the exit rapidly coming up towards them. As much as Gavin tried to bring himself to say to turn around now and just forget that anything had happened in the first place, it was too late. Gavin had spent all morning as well as the drive convincing himself that he really should do this. Surely he couldn't just let that all go.  
"Nah," Gavin answered, in a reassuring tone. Ray clearly took the reassurance, as he sighed with relief and smiled at Gav briefly, the exit flying past the car. "No point in being a little minge and running off, right?" Gavin laughed and smiled at the end of that, and Ray joined in. This was the first time he had not been filled with mind-racking anxiety-filled thoughts. It felt good to hold a normal conversation again, and he loved the feeling. He smiled to himself, giving a tiny sigh in his mind, and turned to Ray.  
"So why isn't Michael coming? I thought he'd been wanting to do a "Lads Day Out" sort of thing for awhile."  
Ray took his right hand off the steering wheel briefly to communicate using the general 'I don't even know' gesture. "He said something about going somewhere today. I honestly think it's a little strange, considering I know he wasn't busy for the day. Maybe Geoff wanted to do something, I dunno really."  
Gavin quirked his eyebrow up in confusion as he stared ahead of him, following the white lines on the road with his eyes. "That's strange, I thought Geoff had to go in to work today." Gavin paused momentarily, then continued. "Maybe he got the day off or something."  
"It still seems strange to me, ya know? Unless he and Geoff have a recording thing going today, they probably won't pay much attention to each other. They've never been much of the 'hanging out after work together' type of people, considering the only time they spend genuine time together is if they have some sort of commentary. Its just a little weird..." Ray's voice trailed off as the phone in the cupholder between both men spoke up, stating, rather demandingly, for Ray to change directions.  
Paying no mind to the iPhone GPS between them, Gavin continued speaking. "I could've sworn Geoff had something big at work today. Something about him and Jack doing paperwork or some spaff like that."  
"Who knows anymore. Its still just weird. All of it."  
Gavin shrugged his shoulders, knowing that there was definitely something up. That was very unlike Michael, and Gavin had known him ever since he'd moved to Austin after he'd just needed to get the hell out of Dodge. Well, Jersey, in this case.  
While thinking to himself, Gavin quirked up his eyebrow, his face mirroring confusion. He'd never really thought back on when Michael had first moved to Texas. It was a rather strange situation, now that he was thinking in detail about it.  
Usually, when people pick up their life and scatter it messily everywhere they have a reason, such as a job change or going to a new college or something like that. Michael did neither of those, or even anything else that was normal for an entire life-uprooting. No family here or anything of the sorts. Hell, it wasn't even job relocation, taking into account that electricians don't tend to move around much. Gavin didn't recall Michael ever giving him a reason either, even though they'd known each other for years. Gavin knew for a fact that Michael knew him better than anyone, even Geoff, and he'd lived with the man for years now. As for Michael, Gavin thought he knew him well. Michael had told him everything when he'd moved here, details about his family, his job, his childhood, everything really good friends tell each other.  
Though, he'd never told Gavin why he'd moved.  
Thinking about it again, Gavin became even more perplexed. He turned his head as he saw a hand movement of some sort come from Ray's side of the car.  
"Op, Swag!" Ray yelled as Gavin was yanked back into reality. "There is so much swag in this car right now, Gavin. Can't you just feel it? Yeah you can."  
Gavin let out a long laugh followed by calling Ray a "bloody idiot" as Gavin rolled his eyes. He went along with acting like he even knew what Ray was talking about, realizing he'd zoned out entirely while thinking about Michael. He didn't want to hurt Ray's feelings in anyway, so he'd go along with it for the man's own sake.  
As the car turned on the winding highway, the sun decided to make an unwelcome appearance for the day. As the sun's rays came in through the driver's side window, Ray stared down at his sun covered arm. He made a ace, clearly displaying his lack of amusement on the situation at hand.  
"God, I am so reflective!" Ray announced with sarcastic frustration in his voice.  
"Yeah, for someone who goes by BrownMan." Gavin answered, giving a small laugh at the situation.  
"Hey man, we all know I can't even pass for TanMan if I wanted to. Maybe I should change my gamertag to 'Shockingly Caucasian' instead."  
Both men laughed together in unison as Ray yanked the sun-bathed arm away from the window. He rubbed the now very warm spot on his arm with his other hand, the sun finally returning to its spot behind the heavy rain clouds covering the sky.  
Gavin giggled to himself as he heard Ray grumble next to him, staring down at his newly reddened patch of skin on his arm.  
"This is why I don't go outside."  
...........................................  
Gavin tried his hardest not to outburst in that very moment. He was a tornado of emotions, a heavy mixture of panic, anxiety, remembrance and sadness. Gavin being worried was the understatement of the century.  
He swallowed heavily as he angled his head upwards to look at his surroundings. Colored poles supporting heavy rails towered above him, and music filled his ears. Millions of thoughts rushed through Gavin's mind all at once, some of wonder, but most of longing.  
The returning thoughts of events that occurred in his dreams made a vicious return, dominating all else.  
As much as he told himself over and over that nothing would happen, and that it had been so many years without incident, the 'What If' thoughts proceeded to torture, the internal scenarios getting worse and worse as they progressed. Even Ray had tried in the car to get him to calm down, as he'd had a hard-hitting anxiety attack when they neared the park in the car. Ray had promised him that everything would be alright, and that he would try to help no matter what it took. Ray tended to be one to stick with his promises.  
"Gav," Ray started, sympathy in his voice "are you really sure you want to do this? We don't have to, really. We can get in my car and drive away and continue on like nothing ever happened. Seriously."  
Gavin gulped, clearing his throat. "Ray, its fine. It'll be fun. Like you said, that happened nearly 19 years ago, and nothing has happened since." Ray still didn't seem convinced, but Gavin didn't want Ray babying him any longer. "Lets just go an have a bloody amazing time!"  
Ray looked him over, doing a full assessment on Gavin's facial expressions before finally speaking up again.  
Or rather, yelling out enthusiastically.  
"LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLETS PLAY!" Ray shouted, a wide grin growing in size across his face.  
"...at the Six Flags!" Ray added lastly.  
Gavin laughed and turned to Ray with a huge smile on his face as well.  
"Your such a bloody idiot, Ray."  
...........................................  
The day went along perfectly. Ray really was right, because nothing had happened and both men had been there all day. Since they’d both been since the opening of the park in the morning, the time was nearing the evening, the darkness surrounding them. It had been raining on and off the entire day, sometimes no rain at all, while other times the rain began to pour for long periods of time, leaving them both soaked. They didn’t mind, though. There was very few people there, as everyone else knew that this storm had been planned for the past few days. Surely anyone that had plans would have cancelled. They didn’t mind that either. Ever line was a breeze to get through, having only a handful of people in line at a time. The less people the better for Gavin, though Ray didn’t seem to mind either way.  
As the pair walked down the brick path towards the front entrance, side by side, Ray sighed with content, breaking the silence among the two.  
“Gavin, this was one of the best days I’ve had while living in Texas so far.” Ray stated with enthusiasm, pure happiness in his voice.  
A grin spread over Gavin’s already smiling face, the grin even bigger than the smile.  
“I agree, Ray. This was definitely the most fun I’ve had! It was tippy top!”  
Next to him, Ray smiled, pausing to stand in front of Gavin, looking him in the eyes.  
“I’m really glad you had a good time. I was honestly really worried about you the entire time. I’ve also been really worried about…” Ray’s voice trailed off and he stared at the ground, seemingly embarrassed. Gavin looked at him, almost reaching down to tilt Ray’s head back up to look at him, but Ray looked up and began to speak.  
“I didn’t drag you here did I?”  
Gavin looked Ray directly in the eyes, seeing the worry in his brown eyes.  
“Of course not, Ray. I’m the one that decided to come. If anything, I think you're awesome for bringing me here, I haven’t been in years and I’ve really missed it.” Gavin took a hard inward breath, preparing to speak again. “Ray, you helped me get over one of my biggest all time fears. Lately, I’ve been getting the vivid images...the nightmares. Its just the shooting of my dad, over and over on repeat, playing sharply in my mind like a movie. I haven’t been able to get them to go away, the fear always sticking with me day in day out. Now, thanks to you, I haven’t seen any flashbacks or even had any bad thoughts since we’ve been here. Without you, I wouldn’t know what this was all like.”  
Ray began to smile, the genuine moment shared between the two beginning to warm his heart. A moment of silence stood between the two, the essence of the moment filling the air around them. Ray was about to speak, when the darkened sky lit up in a flash, a bolt of lightening striking far off in the distance. The loud, ground-shaking sound from the lightning took both men by surprise, and both visibly jumped as the sound hit both ears.  
“Bloody hell, that was one hell of a noise!” Gavin yelped out, as Ray realized that the moment they’d just had was now lost. Oh well, Ray thought, I can talk to him in the car on the way back.  
“Yeah, talk about loud. I didn’t expect that for sure.” Ray gave a single laugh, a little disappointed that the conversation ended so abruptly. Though, he didn’t want to hurt Gavin’s feelings or make him feel uncomfortable. He was sure that Gavin already felt embarrassed by what he’d confessed to him earlier.  
“Well, the parks about to close. I don’t want the staff to get all minged off by us faffing about.” As the words left Gavin’s mouth, he began to start towards the parks exit, Ray running to catch up a few seconds later.  
Both men walked, side by side, in silence. Ray wanted to break the silence, but everytime he wanted to, another bolt of lightening hit, followed by a loud crashing sound. Its getting louder, it must be close.  
“Ray, this has been an amazing trip.” Gavin said, as they both struggled to weave through the sea of people crowding around the exit, jumping over puddles and muddy bricks in the process of leaving. “I’m really glad nothing hap-”  
Gavin was cut off quickly as another bolt of lightning hit, just outside the gates of the park. The rain was now pouring, and groans from the people were audibly heard, as they clumped together to attempt to remain dry.  
Next came the sound of the booming thunder.  
Only this time, Ray was certain there was something off about this one.  
Just like that, as Ray was about to question it, a man fell to the floor in front of him. A scream could be heard, but Ray couldn’t make out what was said. People began to crowd around, a few shouting for 911 or an ambulance. Where's Gavin?  
Ray moved forward to see what was going on. Though, now he wished he hadn’t. Before him, lying on the bricks, was a man with a rather large build. He had brown-ish hair, which turned darker in the rain. Officials began running towards the scene, Ray still struggling to spot what was going on. Did he pass out or was he just knocked over?  
As Ray was pushed backwards with force, he saw a blood red bullet hole right in the man's stomach out of the corner of his eye. Ray stumbled, struggling to regain his balance from the forced shove. He spun around, and found himself looking straight at Gavin, whose face was now riddled with horror. Tears fell down his face, but were immediately washed away by the pouring rain. Gavin opened his mouth as if to speak, but closed it immediately and turned toward the exit.  
“Gavin! Gavin wait!”  
Gavin didn’t hear as he ran at full speed towards the exit, tears streaming down his face, hands covering his ears. Ray tried to run after him, but failed as he slipped and fell backwards onto the brick flooring.  
With that, Ray was surrounded by groups of people, and his only last thought was of how Gavin would ever forgive him.


End file.
